Car ladder



Dec. 23, 1930. w. E. WINE 1,786,379

GAR LADDER Filed April 16, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l O OO In v/en'on Wi Zlam E". /Vne,

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Dec. 23, 1930. w. E. wlNE 1,786,379

CAR LADDER Filed April 1e, 1928 2 sheets-sheet 2 In venan' Willia E, v/Mine,

L/LUM Patented Dec. 23, i930 i, Y y 1,786,379

i UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE .l WILLIAM'E. WINnoF'iroLniJo, omo I i l Y Y ciinLAnnna I v Y Y j Application aiea April ie, was. seriaiiro. 270,303.

invention i relates to new and useful Fig. 2 is an end elevation Showing the two improvements in ladders, `Vand although ladders in place, y j

especially designed foruse on freight cars, Fig. 3 isa fragmentary enlarged lower it'will be readily apparent thatthe same may end view of `'one of the stiles, showing a part 5 be used on other structures wherever a metal 0f e rung' andthe fastening means `for the 55 .ladder is desired; Stiles,

One 0f the vObjects, of the present inven- Fig. 4 isa sectional view taken on line 1C-4 tion is to produce van `all-metal ladder com- 0f igt-3H A prising stiles inade out of angle iron with Fig. is a similar View, the bracketand i0 the holessin the opposite faces of each angle rung being left out for the sake of clearness, 60

iron so thatafter the rungs are placed in po- Fle- 1S a' -hOI'lZOiital Sectional View, onesition and the stiles set, no further fastening half eeillgf taken through the bracket, and for the rungs is necessary the other half being taken through the. rung, In its broadest aspect -it-isz similar tothe .Flg 7 ISePGI'SPeCVeVeW v0f theV lower .15 ladder shown in the` patent granted to me on end of the stile,A v 65` February 13, 1917, and numbered 1,215,455. F 1g- 70 1S a perspective `VieWvof the bracket The ,present application v alsoshows `and cooperating.with-ithe 'lower end of the stile, describes briefly. the manner in which ladders im@ Y are to be fastened to carsxbut thisfeature is Fig. 8 isl a vfragmentary 4perspective view 20 Shown andv described more in detail` and taken from the outer corner of tliestile. 7oV

claimed in a `divisional application, filed by Referring IiiOIe in particular to the several me .On April 17th7 1929 Y f views, there 1s shown in Fig. 1, the fragmen- Still another object of the invention is to tary end 1 of a h0ppei car, and secured by provide a ladder the stiles of whichfare made brackets, `(to be hereinafter briefly de-.

,25 of angle iron and rather than make circular Serbed,) iS the laddelWhCh eXtendS from 75 holes in the farces of the angle, rectangular the tOp 0f the Cai' dQWII t0 the Side-Sill 3. Y i openings f are `provided so that relatively There may also be seen-a ladder fastened thick rungs may be usedthat have their ends t0 the end 0f the Cel, While beneath the lad- Y slightlygfiattened andv may thus fit within Y dei' 2 maybe Seen the usual step 5. It will 30 the openings, that may Abe smaller `than if also be seen that the laddercomprises the two 80 round openings were provided.. v Stiles and'?, which are identical, so af de- Still another object of the invention is to SCI'lPtlOIl-Of the 011e Wlu be a desclptlon 0f provide a ladder, the Stiles of which are prothe Other- Y 1 vided with openings, the sides Vof the open- Descflbmgv therefore '1n detail one 0f 5 ings being flattened' to receive cooperating @bese StlleSktliere will be seen armetal angle 85 frungs with flattened ends and thus secure the I Ifm. Whlch.' 1S provlded m 'the Pllesent mus" rungs more rigidly in position thanwouldbe iratwn lvefsets 20,153. m the tlo i possible'if simply round openings were used tlcels lonef tf1 6. (gh @C Se @mg OPPOSI e 40 in the Stiles t0 reve round end-mpgs" nlfivo 7 aesgt oefrthese holes maiv7 be Seen 90 lwlth these and (.)Lhpobects m new fh ,4 and onec'in the one face of the angle andthe invention consists in certainnew and nove other hole in the Opposite face y, arrangements and combination ofparts as y I in l att bA 1'f 'dtIV will be hereinafter more fully described and Simlly nelle es ullreI-lle Shglgea '451 Pointedout in the'clams.- but I have found that by flattening out Vthe A95 Referring now to tliedrawings showing a Sides 9 of theI openings I accomplish tWO Preferred embodiment 0f the livelltel,1 functions .that I did not accomplish in my Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation ofa earlier construction. l car showing a ladder on the sidevof the car Looking for the. moment at Fig. 8, there 50 and a ladder on the end of the car, Y is shown-v a fragmentary portion of a rung-130 10, the offset or bend coming at the point 11 and at this point the rung is slightly flattened as at 12, the rung again being bent as at 13, and projecting outwardly as at 14 while the front and rear faces of the ends are also flattened as at 15, and 15a. The face 15a is also inclined to the axis of the rung so that it will clear the flattened side wall 9 of the opening as the rung is inserted.

To insert this rung 10, it is simply placed in the opening in one face of the angle and then moved slightly inwardly until the end 14 passes through the other hole 9 as will be readily understood. fk After the rungs are inserted in one of the stiles, the opposite stile is placed with its row of holes opposite the rung ends and then the stile is turned so that the rung ends may pass through the holes in the opposite face of the stile, and we then have all of the rungs tightly locked in position, with reference to the two stiles.

By flattening the opposite ends of the rung, and by making the sets of holes rectangular in shape, it allows me to use a thicker rung without drilling larger holes in the stile.

Secondly, the rung is held lnore tightly in position as the flattened faces of the openings will bear along the liattened faces of the rung and thus provide against any turning movement of the rung.

Of course, it is desirable to drill as small holes as possible in the stiles as the larger the hole the greater the loss in strength of the stile while, on the other hand, it is desirable to use say rungs of 5A diameter, rather than the thinner rungs that are in common use today. It goes without saying that it is desirable to have the rungs held as tightly as possible against movement, as loose or broken rungs have caused many serious accidents.

TheV manner of passing the ends of the rungs through the two opposite faces of the stiles is well shown and described in my earlier patent, and many hundreds of thousands of these ladders are now in use, but as mentioned before, the openings were circular, rather than circular with the sides flattened.

Now the manner of applying the ladders to the cars or other structures forms the subject matter of a divisional application, filed by me on the 17th day of April, 1929, and this subject matter, therefore, will just be set out briefly. It will be seen that each of the stiles 6 has two brackets 16 thereon, each of which comprises a piece of metal having the one face 17 bent over on itself to form the face 18 and which, when in place, forms the resultant space 19 to receive the end 20 of a car bracket 21. he bracket is riveted, as at 22, to the inner face of the stile.

The bracket 16 is cut away along its inner f edge, as at 23, inthe same plane with the lower edge 24 of the inner face 17 of the bracket. Below the rivet 22, there is a hole 25 opposite a hole 26 in the face of the stile, so that when the stile is placed in position as shown in Fig. 3, the end 20 of the bracket will fit within the space 18 and the lip 27 on the end 2O of the car bracket 21 will fit in the cut-out portion 23 to thus hold the stile in position.

There are two of these car brackets 21, one being placed near the upper part of the car and one down by the side sill, and it will be understood that there are two brackets 16 on each stile, one near the top and one near the bottom, so that when the ladder is placed in position, the brackets 16 will fit over the car brackets 21. Bolts 28 will then be passed through the stiles and the brackets 16 and through bolt holes 29 in the ends of the brackets 21 to thus hold the ladder to the car. The

bolts 28 will have square heads to fit up against the lips 27, as may be seen.

Thus it will be seen that after the brackets are securely riveted to the car sides or car ends, the ladder being previously assembled, will simply be placed slightly above the brackets and then pulled down into place so that the hooks will also engage the respective ends of the brackets, after which the bolts 28 will be tightened into position.

If at any time it is desired to remove the ladder, the bolts 28 are simply removed and the ladder lifted slightly off the bracket and then bodily removed.

From the foregoing it will be seen that have provided a ladder wherein relatively large rungs may be used, as the ends are Hattened to fit in openings in the stiles that have their sides flattened, and the rungs will be tightly held in position and against any turning movement. Furthermore, the ladder may be completely assembled, slipped over the bracket and securely bolted thereto, thus making a rigid construction throughout.

By flattening out the side walls of the holes in the stiles, flattening the ends of the rungs, and by inclining one of the two faces at each end of the rungs, I am able to utilize rungs of greater diameter for the size of the holes in the stiles than would be possible, if simply round rungs were used and round holes were formed in the stile.

Again, by constructing the ends of the rungs and forming the openings in the stiles, as shown, the rungs are far more rigidly locked within the stiles than they would be if simply round end rungs and round openings in the stiles were utilized.

rlhe cooperating brackets will rigidly support the ladder and the bolts will tie the several parts strongly together. rlhe ladder relatively light and will be strong and eilicient in service.

Many slight changes might be made withscope of the invention.

said ends being round throughout theirV -Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Y v l. A freight car ladder comprising angular stiles, said stiles having openings substantially rectangular in shape in the opporsite faces of said stiles, and round'rungs having flattened ends to be interlocked Within the openings of the two'resp'ective faces in each of said Stiles. Y

V2. A metal car ladder comprising; stiles formed of angle irons and having oppositely disposed openings in the respective faces 0f said angle irons, said openings being rounded on their upper and lower walls and flattened 'on their side walls, round rungs having olfset ends and the front and rear faces of the the Yends of the rungs being slightly flattened to interlock within the openings in said stiles.

3. A freight car ladder comprising two angle iron Stiles, each `of said Stiles lhaving openings oppositely disposed inthe respective faces of the stile, said openings each having rounded upper and lower edges and.

flat sides,'round rungs having olf-set ends and their ends being slightly flattened to pass through said openings and to interlock therewith to rigidly hold the rungs when the stiles are in position. Y

4. A freight car ladder comprising two angle iron stiles, said stiles having openings therein, said openings being flattened at their sides, rungs having off-set ends and said ends being flattened on their two faces to interinclined to the axis of the rung to freely pass within said respective openings as the rungs are passed within its openings in the stiles.

being inclined to the axis of the rung so that the rung may be passed within said flattened openings and interlocked'therewith when the stiles are in position.`

9. A car ladder comprising angular stiles and round rungs, each. of said stiles being provided with oppositely disposed openings in each of their faces, the said openings having flattened side walls and arcuate tops and bottoms and the distance between said side walls of the `openings being less than the normal diameter vof the rungs, said rungs being provided with flattened and offset ends tointerlock-with the walls of the said openings in the stiles. l

In testimony whereofI affix my signature.

WILLIAM E. WINE.

5. A car ladder comprisingstiles,V each i of said stiles being formed of an angle iron and having openings oppositely disposed in the respective faces of the stile and said openings being arcuate at their top and bottornr and flat on their sides.

6. A car ladder comprising stiles, a rung having off-set ends, the extreme ends extending parallel to the axis of the rung, the

' greater length and flattened at their extreme ends and the rear faces of the extreme ends f the rung being inclinedV to the axis of the rung.

7.V In a ear ladder a` round rung having of`fset ends, the said ends being flattenedA and one of the flattened faces beingl inclinedto 1 the axis of the rung.

' 8; A ear ladder comprising angular Stiles each having openings in their opposite faces,

said openings having flattened side walls, rungs having olset and flattened ends and one face of the flattened ends of each rung :ianV 

